Sport

Hydel, KC in KFC/ISSA South Conference basketball final

DEFENDING KFC/ISSA Southern Conference Under-19 champions Hydel and national title-holders Kingston College will meet in a repeat of last season's South Conference title decider after identical 2-0 semi-final victories at the National Stadium courts on Friday.

Champions Ardenne will also look for their third successive hold on the Under-16 title when they meet the double-seeking Kingston College in the junior final.

Both Hydel and Kingston College made light work of their opponents, with Hydel dismissing Ardenne 62-48 and KC cruising to a comfortable 68-36 win over St Catherine High.

In the first game, Hydel with 14 points and eight rebounds from Deano Hibbert and 10 points from Orlando Mendez, held Ardenne 14-8 after the first quarter and doubled their lead (36-18) at half-time.

Hydel continued their dominance through the third quarter and although Ardenne played a spirited final quarter and won the period, Hydel took the game comfortably by 14 points.

Hydel's coach Kurt Stewart said the game was tougher than it looked, as Ardenne is a 'feisty' team and they had to keep them at bay.

"One of our players also had a death in his family and we just want to thank the school for their support because that really helped push us through," he said.

In the other game, Clifton Jean posted a game-high 30 points and nine rebounds as Kingston College consolidated their position in the final.

Akeem Tomlinson was St Catherine's top-scorer with 14 points.

Kingston College's coach Dennis Thompson believed they did not get any 'respected resistance' from their opponents, although the teams' matches in the regular season were much closer.

"The second time we played them we had to go into overtime... so we had to plan for them.. and the results in the two games showed the solid plans we had for them," he said.

In the Under-16 semis, Kingston College defeated neighbours St George's College 55-37 and Ardenne stopped St Jago 50-23 as the two scored 2-0 series wins to book their places.

Jamie-Hugh Brown was Kingston College's top-scorer with 18 points, followed by Malik Pusey with 11 points and seven rebounds, and Dimitri Clarke with 10 points and 11 rebounds.